April 1, 2016

Poroshenko exhorts the West to continue sanctions on Russia

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Yaro Bihun

President Petro Poroshenko responds to questions about the situation in Ukraine after his keynote address at this year’s “Ukraine in Washington” forum in the U.S. Capitol’s Congressional Auditorium. Sitting next to him is Bill Clifford, president of the World Affairs Council of America, moderator of the session.

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called on the United States and other Western powers to continue their sanctions on Russia to help end its “direct armed aggression against my state.”

Addressing a large forum at the Congressional Auditorium in the U.S. Capitol on March 30 discussing Ukraine’s continuing battle for freedom, Mr. Poroshen-ko pointed out that, after Ukraine abandoned the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal in 1994, it received security assurances under the Budapest Memorandum guaranteeing its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

He asked: “But what has it turned [out] to be in reality?”

“Russia simply defied its assurances to Ukraine and committed a direct armed aggression against my state,” he said, referring to Moscow’s actions in Crimea and the Donbas region of Ukraine, where “Ukrainian patriots are losing their lives defending the same values that are dear to America and Europe.”

“We are of one blood, one mind and one values. Democratic values,” the Ukrainian president stressed.

Mr. Poroshenko said that his country has “effectively stopped” the Russian offensive. But, he added, “The price we paid is striking”: almost 10,000 people have died and more than 2,700 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by combined Russian-militant forces – more than the number of American military losses in Afghanistan over the past 15 years. In addition, about 1.75 million people have lost their homes in the Donetsk and Luhansk region and have been forced to move to elsewhere in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president noted that the last time he visited Washington, in September 2014, he had the honor of addressing a joint session of the Congress and Senate. And he saw that as “a very important symbol of support” for Ukraine.

“I am grateful to the United States government for standing by Ukraine’s side over the last two years – the hardest two years in the history of my country,” he noted.

Mr. Poroshenko also expressed his gratitude to the Ukrainian American community, which has been supporting Ukraine “so actively and in so many ways,” and to “to all people of goodwill who stood with Ukraine and extended their financial, in kind and moral support.”

Analyzing Russia’s motivations, he said that the lack of fear in the West was Russia’s “biggest humiliation” and it has sought to compensate for it in Transnistria, Georgia, Ukraine and now in Syria.

“We should realize that the world will not be the same again,” he added, and to be successful the West must first establish peace in Ukraine, where sanctions are now the only “line in the sand” the West drew in 2014.

President Poroshenko’s keynote address in the Congressional Auditorium on Capitol Hill concluded this year’s “Ukraine in Washington” conference held to discuss Ukraine’s continuing battle for freedom.

The one-day conference sessions covered such issues as “The human costs of the war in Ukraine,” “Economic development in rebuilding Ukraine” and “From Budapest to Minsk and beyond,” and presented the “U.S. government perspective.”

The annual conference was organized – in cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine – by the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and the World Affairs Council of America, and co-hosted by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Jurkiw Family Fund and other organizations.

The following morning, before joining in with the leaders of more than 50 countries at the Nuclear Security Summit, President Poroshenko visited the recently dedicated Ukrainian Holodomor Memorial in Washington, where he laid a floral wreath to honor its millions of victims. When the memorial was dedicated last November, he participated in the event with a video-recorded address. His wife, Maryna Poroshenko, represented him at the ceremony.

His three-day visit Nuclear Security Summit schedule also anticipated a meeting with U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the presidents of Poland and Argentina, among other participating leaders.

A meeting with President Barack Obama was not anticipated in his schedule. The last time President Poroshenko visited Washington – in September 2014, when he addressed a joint session of Congress about Russia’s intervention in Ukraine – he had a meeting with President Obama at the White House.

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